EDGAR — This is supposedly a "down year" for the Saint Mary's Springs football team.

While the Springers might not be at the same level they were the past few seasons, the program is still just two wins away from another trip to the WIAA state championship game.

"A team like that is never actually down," Edgar quarterback/linebacker Matt Urmanski said Tuesday afternoon. "Maybe they're not as good as previous years but I wouldn't count them out. They've lost to Omro and Amherst, a (Division) 4 and a D-5 school, who are both still in (the playoffs). Those aren't bad losses and they played both those teams tough."

Edgar faces Springs, the defending Division 6 state champions, in a Level 3 matchup Friday at North Fond du Lac. Both schools spent time ranked No. 1 in the Small Division of The Associated Press state football poll this season, and it is the first playoff matchup between the two schools since Springs downed Edgar 38-0 in a Level 4 matchup in 2011.

The Wildcats (9-2) are coming off a 36-6 win over Marathon last week in what Edgar coach Jerry Sinz felt was one of his team's most complete efforts of the season.

"We were healthier than we had been which helped," Sinz said. "We got going early and were able to run the ball pretty effectively, better than I thought we might be able to,"

The Wildcats rolled up 244 yards on the ground and rushed for five touchdowns in the win. Edgar outgained Marathon 278-84 overall.

"We just came out fired up (on the line) and the offense just kept getting yards when we needed them," Edgar senior offensive and defensive tackle Ben Lepak said.

CLOSE

The Wildcats knocked off Marathon 36-6 in a Division 6 Level 2 playoff game Friday.

The Wildcats face a Springs defense which is allowing an average of 126.7 yards per game and has forced 25 turnovers.

"They have a very big, mean defensive line," Urmanski said. "That will be a challenge for our big offensive line and that will be fun to watch. Then they have some speed on the outside. They are kind of the whole package (defensively)."

Edgar has allowed a combined six points in two playoff games so far and face a Springs offense that is averaging 292.9 yards on the ground per game, and 139 yards per game through the air.

"They are varied (offensively). We watched film on some games where teams have kind of controlled their running attack so (Springs) just started passing. In one of the games they lost, they passed for 300 yards," Sinz said. "Then we have seen them in two or three different defenses (on film). They have enough players and enough variety where they can adjust as the game is going on and be pretty effective while doing it."

Springs' Finton Floyd rushed for 252 yards and a touchdown on 31 carries in a win over Iola-Scandinavia last week.

Edgar is allowing opponents to rush for an average of 2.7 yards an attempt.

"I would have never thought we could hold Marathon to under 100 yards in total offense because they were averaging about 350 (a game)," Sinz said. "To hold them to like 10 yards rushing was amazing because they were averaging about 240-50 a game. I thought we did a hell of a job shutting down their running attack. It was all out team hustle and everybody doing their job on every play and nobody getting out of position."